Jan 14, 2010 6
It has been nearly 4 months since I last updated my list of Bloggers in Vietnam.
Here is another one to add called Saigon in a Cup by Tung from the US. Give it a read.
Please welcome Tung to the Saigon blogosphere!
Jul 4, 2009 2
Just added a new blog to my Vietnam Blogger list. The Expat Experience is a blog written by Australian blogger, Cara, focusing on her life in Saigon. It is quite interesting and I recommend adding her to your RSS feeds.
The Expat Experience -> http://theexpatexperience.blogspot.com/
May 3, 2009 9
I started posting blog entries on my Yahoo 360 account back in August 20, 2006. My Vietnamese Sociology students from the Center for International Education and other university students at SaigonTech wanted me to post more on Yahoo 360 since they were all active there. I remember being very active there for a couple of years. I even met some friends from there as well and made some good contacts.
Sadly, Yahoo 360 will be shutdown. It is still a surprise to many young Vietnamese bloggers who have used Yahoo 360 religiously for the last 3-4 years. My students still use it. They are the ardent ones who will use it until the end which should come soon.
I have been lucky that I started SaigonNezumi.com before I created my Yahoo 360 accounts. I will not be affected much by the shutdown. Many of my 360 Friends have already added me to my Facebook account.
I do feel sorry for the many young 360 bloggers who have no place to move their blog entries too. I created a blog forum for my students but it is no way ready to handle anymore than 200 users. Not yet at least.
Yahoo 360 Plus does not seem a popular option as well. I posted this entry nearly a year ago:
The negative, since Yahoo 360plus will not be connected to the universal profile with other Yahoo products, could be the death blow to Yahoo 360 in Vietnam. The strength of Yahoo 360 is that it enabled Vietnamese bloggers to connect with other Yahoo 360 users around the world. If Yahoo 360plus just focuses on the Vietnamese market, many 360 users could move over to Facebook which is rapidly becoming popular among students and friends.
Unfortunately for you English speakers, Yahoo 360plus is only available in the Vietnamese language.
This is exactly what is happening. I am seeing many of the Vietnamese bloggers who write English move over to Facebook. They are very active as well. That includes my high school ICT students and former university students. I expect the same for other Yahoo 360 English speaking Vietnamese users as well.
Will they continue to blog? It is hard to say. I hate to say it, you can do quite a bit with Facebook now. If a developer adds a small blogging application to Facebook (I am not sure if one is there), that could be make Facebook a perfect replacement for Yahoo 360.
I am sure the Young Vietnamese IT geeks will have their opinions on this one.
Below is my last Yahoo 360 post:
It seems that Yahoo 360 will end soon. If you want to keep in contact with me, please visit the following sites:
1. SaigonNezumi.com (my blog) -> http://www.saigonnezumi.com
2. Facebook -> http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=678700482
3. Twitter -> http://twitter.com/saigonnezumi
If you need help finding a new blog site, please email me at: http://www.saigonnezumi.com/aboutkevinmillerjr/contact-kevin-miller-jr/ and I will help you find a new place to blog at.
Thank you for being my Yahoo 360 Friends. I hope to see you at another forum.
Kevin Miller, Jr. saigonnezumi
Farewell Yahoo 360!
Apr 11, 2009 3
I want to introduce you all to a new Saigon Expat Blogger, Petro (Peter) Smith, from the US. Petro teaches English in Saigon. Visit his blog for a very thorough description of his experiences in Vietnam.
A belated welcome to you Petro to the Saigon Expat Blogging community.
The Rock of Saigon: Petro’s Adventures in Teaching -> http://therockofsaigon.blogspot.com/
Dec 25, 2008 Comments Off
Yesterday the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) released a circular to regulate and enforce blogging rules in Vietnam.
According to Thanh Nien News, the circular states that bloggers will be held responsible for providing, disseminating, and creating direct links that are in direct violation of the decree issued last August that “…forbids the circulation of information which undermines Vietnam’s national security and social order, revealing classified information, or instigating war and violence.”
Pornography, superstitious content such as astrology, and defamatory content are also banned. These are social evils in Vietnam.
Bloggers cannot create blogs assuming other identities. That means the Fake Steve Jobs blogger would be in violation in Vietnam.
Furthermore, bloggers cannot post copyrighted material and they will also be held responsible for ALL the content of their blogs. Service providers (those that host blogs) “…must detect, prevent and get rid of banned information when asked by governmental blog management agencies, it notes” according to Thanh Nien News.
The questions not answered are whether Expat bloggers and Vietnamese who have blog accounts outside of Vietnam are affected. A report posted by Tuoi Tre today seems to state that if an overseas blog posted by a blogger in Vietnam violates the August decree, they may be held in criminal violation. I will need to confirm this since I was reading a translated version of the story with Google Translator.
Despite this circular, many bloggers seem not really worried about the regulation of blogs. There are just too many blogs, especially with Yahoo 360, that will make enforcing the circular too difficult. Also, since many bloggers are teenagers who have a tendency to speak their mind, restricting this young group could turn into an headache for the MIC.
With the growing popularity of Facebook and Twitter in Vietnam now, will these two service providers, as defined by the circular, be responsible to manage the information on their sites as well?
Read more about the new blog circular here -> Circular aims to tackle blogging violations
Vietnamese version here -> Tuoi Tre
VietnamNet Bridge just posted an article about the blog circular: Vietnam to have circular on Internet-based information violations
AP published Vietnam imposes new blogging restrictions as well. As with Reuters, AP seems to be paraphrasing the Vietnamese English language news sites. No fact finding as well.
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